Going to see Blur tonight at MSG. I am dreading it. At one time I loved Blur. Back when I started this thread, I told the missus, No more concerts until I say so. Then I saw the announcement of this show and feeling bad, I mentioned it to her. Of course she had to go.

I am dreading because right now I'm not very into Blur anymore. As live performers I think they put on a decent show, but they more or less play the records as is. I think it'll be okay. At least I know their catalogue. I guess am mostly dreading the communal concert experience. I hate being in a big crush of people. At least their will be seating tonight.

That's another thing that sucks about concerts, all the standing around! Sometimes, between the opening acts and all the giant delays in between sets, the encores, delays between encores, you end up standing around for four hours. That's not fun!

The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies

that's me on the side of the stage checking the forums on legitimategolf.com

Sweet, love that the soundguy snuck into the frame. Seriously what are you up to there? Do you use the laptop for the mix?

My friend took that photo I think he cropped me in as a joke.

Yeah my mixer is one of the new digital-only types with no desk or knobs at all and where everything is controlled by software on laptop or tablet. I have a backup laptop hard wired in, main laptop is wireless and also a cheap android 7" tablet for simple changes waking around out front. It's very convenient and sounds really good. Replaces racks of very expensive outboard gear.

legitimatebeef wrote:Going to see Blur tonight at MSG. I am dreading it.

My cynicism was unfounded. We showed up an hour after the "start" time, grabbed a Coca-cola and literally as we were lowering butts into our seats, the house lights went down! Wow! Beautiful timing. They opened with one of their boring new jams. But a couple songs into it, my hardened heart was melted when they launched into "End of a Century", one of my favorite songs.

This was one of only two American dates and their debut at Madison Square and the gig seemed to actually mean something to the band. They played with a passion and joy. Guess I didn't realize til last night that this is a special group, with the kind of chemistry that is extremely rare. I couldn't help but to think of Oasis and the so-called rivalry that once existed. I like Oasis but compared to Blur they are kind of douchebaggy and one-dimensional and corporate rock.

The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies

legitimatebeef wrote:Going to see Blur tonight at MSG. I am dreading it.

My cynicism was unfounded. We showed up an hour after the "start" time, grabbed a Coca-cola and literally as we were lowering butts into our seats, the house lights went down! Wow! Beautiful timing. They opened with one of their boring new jams. But a couple songs into it, my hardened heart was melted when they launched into "End of a Century", one of my favorite songs.

This was one of only two American dates and their debut at Madison Square and the gig seemed to actually mean something to the band. They played with a passion and joy. Guess I didn't realize til last night that this is a special group, with the kind of chemistry that is extremely rare. I couldn't help but to think of Oasis and the so-called rivalry that once existed. I like Oasis but compared to Blur they are kind of douchebaggy and one-dimensional and corporate rock.

Yeah, since I've been recently getting back into concert-going, it's a little more sane now. Shows start earlier (on schedule), and its just all smoother. At least the gigs I've been to. Glad the Blur was a good event. When I saw Luna on their kickoff show on the US leg of the 10 year reunion tour last month, I was blown away. The sound and venue so good, and the band on form like it was yesterday, or better.

I just got finished doing sound at a marathon Flood Benefit show. 9 acts. I worked my ass off. It all sounded good and I enjoy the challenge. Crazy day. I actually jumped up on stage and grabbed a tele and played on a song with this wacky act called Hillbilly Death Squad. Loaded in at 10:00AM got home a 8:45PM

I need to reconsider this thread. Because last night I attended a performance of an Arthur Miller play on Broadway. The worst concert experience I've ever had pales in comparison to what I went through last night. It probably effectively put the kibosh on any possibility of my ever returning to the "theatre". Not like I was ever into it or anything.

It was "View from the Bridge". Of course it was a very capable production, with people who are capable at acting etc. But as an artistic work I'm sorry it was a magnificent, grandiose pile of crap. A monument to ego more than anything else. I'm not a religious guy but after sitting through this my perspective has changed. Because religion is generally about man humbling himself God, striving to glorify God with his actions. Now, I see the beauty and honor in that. I feel that theatre, as an art form does the opposite of glorify God. Performances like the one I saw seek to glorify man and his ability to simulate human emotions, a masturbatory indulgence if you will. I feel spiritually poorer now than I did 24 hours ago, maybe I need to stop in to a church.

Here's the summary. A lot of yelling, and uncomfortable moments. A cast of chiefly Britons, all appropriated working-class "New Yawk" accents with varying levels of success. There was an extended man on man kiss at one point. Some ham-fisted metaphors shoved in your face. At the end there was some pantomimed violence and then fake blood rained down on the entire stage for like a whole minute, until everyone was practically swimming in it. Wow, totally like, metaphorical man!

The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies

just got back from Athens GA where I saw this indie rock group called Deerhunter. Sold out, not sure what the capacity is but I'll guess 2500 or so. I was amazed they had that big of a draw. The Georgia Theatre is an awesome state of the art venue. The band were less experimental live than I imagined, but it was still good.

This past Saturday - left my house at 10:00 am and went to my music room and packed up my PA system and took to a daytime festival at one of the local microbreweries, hooked it up and got ready for a two band show outside on the deck. Handed over the mix job to a friend so I could leave and go to band rehearsal, as we were cramming on learning a few new songs for a gig that night at another spot. Decided to leave my truck parked at the festival which was in prime load out location. Took an Uber to band practice. Slow, slow driver. I texted one of my bandmates that I was in the slowest Uber in town, turns out he was only about two blocks behind us, so I asked my driver to pull over, I got out, and got picked up by him and went to band rehearsal. We pulled in to my rehearsal space, two of the other band guys were there hanging out in the parking lot, and I realized that I left the keys to the room in my truck.Doh! So we hung out in the parking lot waiting for the drummer to show up, who has the other set of keys. We waited, then texted, then called... no response. Two of our guys had time commitments to get back to haul or pickup kids to or from some activity. Meanwhile, we did a impromptu acoustic rehearsal with one (semi hollow epiphone casino) guitar. Finally we heard back from the drummer, who had just woken up (It was 1:30.. he was up all night doing freelance design work). So he hurried over and my mates called wives and bought extra time. I put together a minimal PA for practice using left over gear in my practice space. Got a ride back to the brewery festival, showed up in time to setup the mix for the second band, which was a straight up bluegrass act. Mixed them then packed up PA system. Guy that was supposed to pay me disappeared. Drove PA gear back to room, and unloaded (by myself). Then, loaded up all our band gear (amps, drums, guitars, etc) and drove to the club for the night gig in order to get a good parking spot close to load in. Parked and locked truck, got my wife to pick me up and go home to relax a minute. Slept for an hour. Woke up and ate some food, and kept trying to memorize lyrics. Went to the gig with my wife, watched some of the bands, then loaded in the gear from my truck. Setup, and played an hour set. Moved gear off the stage. It was a benefit show, so we were playing for free. When the club closed at 2 am packed everything up again, and drove it back to my practice room, and unloaded. Then home. Slept a lot on Sunday I recall moments of golf on TV, but lots of hard naps. Today, met up with one of the band guys from the sound gig, and got a check for $50 for the PA rental and sound (1/4 of what I originally asked for).

jfurr wrote:This past Saturday - left my house at 10:00 am and went to my music room and packed up my PA system and took to a daytime festival at one of the local microbreweries, hooked it up and got ready for a two band show outside on the deck. Handed over the mix job to a friend so I could leave and go to band rehearsal, as we were cramming on learning a few new songs for a gig that night at another spot. Decided to leave my truck parked at the festival which was in prime load out location. Took an Uber to band practice. Slow, slow driver. I texted one of my bandmates that I was in the slowest Uber in town, turns out he was only about two blocks behind us, so I asked my driver to pull over, I got out, and got picked up by him and went to band rehearsal. We pulled in to my rehearsal space, two of the other band guys were there hanging out in the parking lot, and I realized that I left the keys to the room in my truck.Doh! So we hung out in the parking lot waiting for the drummer to show up, who has the other set of keys. We waited, then texted, then called... no response. Two of our guys had time commitments to get back to haul or pickup kids to or from some activity. Meanwhile, we did a impromptu acoustic rehearsal with one (semi hollow epiphone casino) guitar. Finally we heard back from the drummer, who had just woken up (It was 1:30.. he was up all night doing freelance design work). So he hurried over and my mates called wives and bought extra time. I put together a minimal PA for practice using left over gear in my practice space. Got a ride back to the brewery festival, showed up in time to setup the mix for the second band, which was a straight up bluegrass act. Mixed them then packed up PA system. Guy that was supposed to pay me disappeared. Drove PA gear back to room, and unloaded (by myself). Then, loaded up all our band gear (amps, drums, guitars, etc) and drove to the club for the night gig in order to get a good parking spot close to load in. Parked and locked truck, got my wife to pick me up and go home to relax a minute. Slept for an hour. Woke up and ate some food, and kept trying to memorize lyrics. Went to the gig with my wife, watched some of the bands, then loaded in the gear from my truck. Setup, and played an hour set. Moved gear off the stage. It was a benefit show, so we were playing for free. When the club closed at 2 am packed everything up again, and drove it back to my practice room, and unloaded. Then home. Slept a lot on Sunday I recall moments of golf on TV, but lots of hard naps. Today, met up with one of the band guys from the sound gig, and got a check for $50 for the PA rental and sound (1/4 of what I originally asked for).

jfurr wrote:This past Saturday - left my house at 10:00 am and went to my music room and packed up my PA system and took to a daytime festival at one of the local microbreweries, hooked it up and got ready for a two band show outside on the deck. Handed over the mix job to a friend so I could leave and go to band rehearsal, as we were cramming on learning a few new songs for a gig that night at another spot. Decided to leave my truck parked at the festival which was in prime load out location. Took an Uber to band practice. Slow, slow driver. I texted one of my bandmates that I was in the slowest Uber in town, turns out he was only about two blocks behind us, so I asked my driver to pull over, I got out, and got picked up by him and went to band rehearsal. We pulled in to my rehearsal space, two of the other band guys were there hanging out in the parking lot, and I realized that I left the keys to the room in my truck.Doh! So we hung out in the parking lot waiting for the drummer to show up, who has the other set of keys. We waited, then texted, then called... no response. Two of our guys had time commitments to get back to haul or pickup kids to or from some activity. Meanwhile, we did a impromptu acoustic rehearsal with one (semi hollow epiphone casino) guitar. Finally we heard back from the drummer, who had just woken up (It was 1:30.. he was up all night doing freelance design work). So he hurried over and my mates called wives and bought extra time. I put together a minimal PA for practice using left over gear in my practice space. Got a ride back to the brewery festival, showed up in time to setup the mix for the second band, which was a straight up bluegrass act. Mixed them then packed up PA system. Guy that was supposed to pay me disappeared. Drove PA gear back to room, and unloaded (by myself). Then, loaded up all our band gear (amps, drums, guitars, etc) and drove to the club for the night gig in order to get a good parking spot close to load in. Parked and locked truck, got my wife to pick me up and go home to relax a minute. Slept for an hour. Woke up and ate some food, and kept trying to memorize lyrics. Went to the gig with my wife, watched some of the bands, then loaded in the gear from my truck. Setup, and played an hour set. Moved gear off the stage. It was a benefit show, so we were playing for free. When the club closed at 2 am packed everything up again, and drove it back to my practice room, and unloaded. Then home. Slept a lot on Sunday I recall moments of golf on TV, but lots of hard naps. Today, met up with one of the band guys from the sound gig, and got a check for $50 for the PA rental and sound (1/4 of what I originally asked for).

Rock and Roll !
Not quitting my day job !

I still believe in it, in rock and roll.

The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies